Figure 3.

Cytoprotective effect of 5-CQA. (A) MTT assay. The effect of 5-CQA (0–100 μM, 1 h pre-treatment) in the presence or absence of t-BHP (500 μM, 6 h or12 h) on cell viability was assessed using MTT assays. Data represent the mean ± SE of four replicates, where statistically significant differences between each treatment group and the control were defined by **p < 0.01 for vehicle-treated control and ^#p < 0.05 or ^##p < 0.01 for t-BHP alone. (B) Western blot analysis of apoptosis-associated proteins. Cells were incubated with 10–30 μM 5-CQA for 1 h and then treated with 500 μM t-BHP for 12 h. Precursor PARP, precursor caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-3 were immunoblotted. Equal amounts of loaded protein were confirmed by β-actin. Results were confirmed in three separate experiments.